Magic A Is Magic A: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

Or at least, they do, if the writer knows what he's doing. No matter how fantastic the events in a piece of fiction, their [[Internal Consistency]] is what makes or breaks the [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]. You can have the tech guy of [[La Résistance]] [[Techno Babble|explain in oblique terms involving the word "nano"]] why the [[Evil Empire]]'s fairy dust superweapon needs an hour to recharge after activation, and the audience will nod its collective head and smile; but if you later have that superweapon fire twice in succession, you just made a [[Plot Hole]] and they'll all be at your throat.

Consistency itself, too, can be taken too far; or rather, it can be misapplied. It's too common to see rules being "overdone" to the degree that it's their ''spirit'', rather than their letter, which cannot be broken, essentially as if the universe was playing favorites. This is how you get phenomena like [[Plot Armor]]: Saying that no weapon can break through the Armor of White Legend is one thing; having a whole battalion of enemies surround the wearer of this armor and [[Shooting Superman|futilely shoot volley after volley of arrows at them]], without stopping to think of ''any other strategy at all'', is something else entirely.

 

 

This trope derives its name from [[wikipedia:Law of identity|Aristotle's Law of Identity]], which claims that "[[Shaped Like Itself|a thing and itself are the same thing]]" and marks [[Tropes Are Not Bad|an important contribution]] of [[Captain Obvious]] to modern rational discourse. The title references the law's well-known symbolic formulation, "A = A", which is probably due to German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz.

Related to [[Wrong-Context Magic]], when someone explicitly has the ability to circumvent it. See also [[Beyond the Impossible]] where internal logic is broken for some reason.

 

 

* [[Nasuverse|Nasu Kinoko]]'s works have a nasty habit of setting up incredibly complex and detailed rules about [[The Verse]]... then having a character with some really rare ability break those rules. Of course, only that character alone can ever do it (and probably not more than once), otherwise it's completely consistent.

** One of them: Nothing can reverse being a vampire, once you pass a certain point. Ever. Period, end of story. One character is an ex-vampire, through said convoluted spoilers. One character is almost at that certain point, and one character comes within inches of it

*** There ''is'' one thing that can reverse vampirism: death. The ex-vampire in question, for convoluted reasons, simply didn't ''stay'' dead.

** Reality marbles themselves are either a very good example of this trope or a glaring break from it, depending how you look at it. But ultimately the concept boils down to a detailed and structured set of rules for breaking a detailed and structured set of rules.

*** It's stated in-universe that the point of reality marbles IS breaking the rules.

* Needless to say, the rules in the Nasuverse are extremely complicated to the point of [[Mind Screw]]. The fact that more than a few rules actually contradict others really doesn't help.

** Also, there is at least one rule Negi can break by kissing hard enough.

** Well, technically, no one even knew if there ''was'' a rule concerning that, and considering that {{spoiler|his ancestors created the Pactio system to begin with}}, he actually has a surprising amount of leverage.

* ''[[Code Geass]]'' has Lelouch test out via experiment the constraints of his Geass. The show mostly sticks to the established rules, but does leave vague the duration of a command.

** The duration is "however long it takes to follow the command"; this has created a bit of [[Fan Wank]] as some believe that {{spoiler|the "Live!" Geass on Suzaku means that he will eventually try to become immortal}} despite [[Word of God]] saying it only triggers when {{spoiler|Suzaku is in a potentially fatal situation and tries to give up the will to live.}}

* ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' does this with the Nen-system. Going further, while Nen itself has its own rules and limits, specific abilities can also have rules of their own set in place by their creators. Examples of such rules can be placing limitations on how and when an ability can be used. Further, due to the general rules of Nen, setting such limitations can make the actual ability far more powerful. For example, protagonist Kurapika creates powerful attacks with the limits that they can only be used against the Phantom Troupe and he will die if he mis-uses them. These limitations allow him to take on the most physically powerful of his enemies one-on-one without difficulty.

** The only thing that can kill an immortal is to be "devoured" by another immortal.

** Any immortal who consumes another [[You Will Be Assimilated|attains all of their knowledge and memories (including muscle memory)]].

** No false names in the presence of other immortals.

** {{spoiler|Partly explained by their fragment being the ability to learn others' fragments.}} Which is rather broken in itself.

 

== Comic Books ==

** He can mimic any power (Up to, and including the ''[[A God Am I|Phoenix Force]]'')

** He has to be within a certain range of the person he's mimicking. E.G., If there's no one nearby with a healing factor, he can't give himself one. If there is, he can.

** Second, the subject must be able to hear Jesse. Jesse's recurring nemesis, Herr Starr, managed to escape Jesse's voice simply by covering his ears and repeating the word "no" over and over.

** Next, the subject must be able to understand the order Jesse is giving. In one instance, Herr Starr takes advantage of this by sending hitmen to kill Jesse that didn't speak English, and it's probably worth noting that wild animals don't speak ''any'' kind of human.

** Partially resolved in that over the course of the series it becomes apparent that it is not our world. Jack of Fables makes is much more noticeable as it shows superpowered abstract entities do exist in the Fables universe.

* The [[Green Lantern]] [[Green Lantern Ring|Power Ring]] should be able to avoid this, as it is advertised as being capable of anything the wearer can imagine. People still complain when it does something exceptional, though, mostly because it stands out as being extremely unusual. Of course, as has been pointed out, most of the Green Lantern [[The Chosen Many|Corps]] has the imagination of a goddamn potato.

* Subverted in Matt Wagner's ''Mage'' arc; in ''The Hero Discovered'', Kevin Matchstick's mentor Mirth told him that "Magic is Green." Subsequently, Kevin's various magic feats are invariably depicted in a greenish hue. In the sequel, ''The Hero Defined'', Wally Utt ( {{spoiler|a different face of Mirth}}) said that Kevin was taught "Magic is Green" so he could visualize magic more easily. As Utt revealed, "Magic isn't any color. Magic ''is'' color!"

 

 

== Film - Animated ==

** The [[Animated Series]] added that mixing different kinds of magic is a bad idea, because it produces unpredictable results. This is used as a reason why Genie can't just undo any magic used by villains. It's also hinted that lamp-bound genies are more powerful than free ones, presumably because the bound ones have wishes to grant.

 

== Film - Live Action ==

 

 

== Literature ==

* The ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series is quite consistent with its depiction of magic and "mind-magic" - which starts to confuse the main characters in some of the later series, when characters from far-distant locales come in with techniques that break rules they thought were unbreakable. In particular, Gates from one location to another always require an arch or similar frame, and a single mage's own power... until an eastern mage shows up and says they've always done it in teams, and that frames are just a convenience for them.

** The Adept Firesong once gave a speech declaring that most rules and limits of magic were all in the mage's head - they couldn't do something simply because the way they were taught made them think that it was impossible. And indeed, he and others did manage to do things that other mages couldn't - then a few books later he met the aforesaid Eastern mages who treat magic as a science complete with mathematical tools, and is forced to work with a group of engineers in figuring out a scientific approach to solving a magical crisis, proving that there are ''some'' real rules out there after all.

** And "witchcraft" is used to refer to doing things that the Laws of Magic say are nonsense - like using willowbark to cure headaches when everyone knows that there's no symbolic affinity between the willow and pain. Magic as Science, and Science as Magic...

*** Though there is starting to be some of what we would consider more normal technological development: a top secret military research project has developed...''a flashlight!''

** A few of the simpler rules are explicitly named in the stories. For example, there's the Law of Contagion, which allows a forensic wizard to determine whether a particular bullet was fired from a particular gun. Occasionally hints of greater detail are given; for instance, the bullet has a strong affinity for the gun, but the gun has a fairly weak affinity for the bullet... it's all explained in-story. It's strongly implied that at the higher levels Theoretical Magic is at least as complicated as Quantum Physics; one of the characters mentions that he has only a Master's degree and not a Th.D. (Thaumaturgiae Doctoris) because he couldn't handle the math.

** There are five specific things that cannot be created by magic (food, love, life, information, and money). Only the first is enumerated in the series, and only in the last book. The other four are via [[Word of God]], though it's implicit from the lack of those things being created by magic. They do explain that there are imitations that can be made (such making objects take on the appearance of life) and there are "cheats" that might be mistaken for breaking the rule (such as summoning already prepared food from one location to another).

** One of the themes of magic Rowling has in the series is the dead can never be brought back to life, and the time after death is a mystery even to the greatest of wizards. There are several imitations of life, from ghosts, to zombies, to the echoes of people produced by a Deathly Hallow or Priori Incantum. There's also the horcruxes or the Philosopher's Stone, which prevent the person from dying in the first place, but they don't give true immortality because it's conditional on either item not getting destroyed.

** Though it must be said that, convoluted as it may be, the system was perfectly consistent, once the author figured out how he wanted things to work (around the second or third book). Before that, the rules were slightly looser.

* Magic in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' has a very well-developed and consistent set of established rules. Working within these rules (and finding loopholes) is a major part of the story in most of the books. Among the most common ones:

** Magic is generated by a variety of sources, primarily living things and emotions. Shown when Harry is trapped in a magic sealing field in an aquarium, and notes that there's still lots of magic inside the field due to the fact that there's a lot of living things inside and that the aquarium is routinely visited by large numbers of people with strong emotions as they witness the animals inside.

* Magic in ''[[Rivers of London]]'', at least the type practised by human wizards, appears to be exceptionally rules based and its apparent violation of the laws of thermodynamics greatly worries apprentice Peter Grant.

** {{spoiler|But Beverley Brook, a minor river goddess, seems to do magic in an instinctive fashion.}}

** Magic in general seems to work off of Newtonian physics. Throwing a small pebble at a certain speed requires as much energy as if you did it by hand. Then you have to consider how far away the target you're enchanting is and even the very ''wording'' you're using in the ancient language, all of which can determine how much energy you could spend on a task. This law can get abstract when you're dealing with metaphysical concepts like turning invisible, healing wounds ranging from cuts and bruises to broken bones and birth defects, and amalgamating enough particles of pure gold to be the size of your fist, to the point that experimenting with magic is extremely dangerous because you don't know exactly how much energy it will require, and very well might kill you.

** Except when it doesn't, eg, dragon riders can borrow their dragon's hit points (and dragons have plenty to spare, since they are quite large). As of ''Eldest,'' Eragon learned he could also use the life energy of plants and animals around him. As of ''Brisingr'' mages can also use "Eldunari," which allow you to borrow a ''dead'' dragon's hit points.

** It also seems that what is considered magic by, say, Hobbits, isn't always thought of as such by, say, Elves, which makes explanations difficult and/or unnecessary.

'I do not know what you mean by that,' answered the leader of the Elves. 'They are fair garments, and the web is good, for it was made in this land. They are elvish robes certainly, if that is what you mean." ("Farewell to Lórien", ''The Fellowship of the Ring''.) }}

*** This is because, as Galadriel points out, the word for "magic" used by the hobbits covers what to the elves are two distinct concepts, both elvish "Art" and "sorcery" which is the term for the works of Sauron and the Ringwraiths. Of course, even in Sindarin the term for "sorcery" is just the prefix for "dark" or "black" (mor-) thrown on the word for art, lore, or knowledge (''gul'', thus sorcery or "the black arts," is ''morgul'' as in Minas Morgul and the morgul blade.)

*** It's also worth mentioning that in one of his essays, Tolkien specifically mentioned that in a true "fairy story", magic should never be explicitly explained.

*** A point is made in the Silmarillion that many great works that might be considered magical can only be accomplished once. The great trees: Telperion and Laurelin, created by Yavanna could only be created once; the Silmarils created by Feanor could only be created once. One may presume the One Ring created by Sauron could also only have been created once and it would make sense that reason for this is as given that he put his own power into the ring thus diminishing it in himself. In this respect the act of using one's 'magic' to create a great artifact appears to forever diminish the creator of the artifact.

* A rather interesting case in ''[[Shadows of the Apt]]''- humans all possess the Art, giving them powers and abilities based on the particular insect-archetype. This is all inherited- if you have Beetle parents, you're a Beetle yourself and you get Beetle Art. There's also Aptitude- either you're Apt, and can use- and learn to create- technology, or you're Inapt and can't even open a door with a spring-latch. However, the Inapt can learn magic- another interesting part being that if you ''see'' Art, you ''know'' it's Art not magic.

* Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]'' is a close parallel to'' Avatar: The Last Airbender''. Furycraft is basically bending spelled sideways... though the rules in detail are different, and while strong mastery of more than a single element is rare, it is not at all unique. All the High Lords can do it. A significant feature is that it is an important issue in the series that furycraft can be treated scientifically, and while the limits are stated well, a sneaky enough furycrafter can come up with surprising new twists, yet still within the rules.

*** It is theorized that many mages who never had ay practical training accidentally killed themselves by trying to annihilate objects. When the group meets a two-hundred year old scholar whose work was ignored because all of his apprentices mysteriously vanished, they find that he is a really nice guy and the worst thing he ever did was teleport an assailant out to sea.

* In ''[[The Name of the Wind]]'', magic is surprisingly mundane and consistent. The most common type, sympathy, follows (''really'' follows) the law of conservation of energy. For example, if you bound two coins, lifting one would lift both, but it would weigh like both, not accounting for the loss of energy (the more similar, the less energy lost). One can use an outside energy source, though (like, say, using a fire's power to move an iron wheel). Sygaldry is sympathy, but based on written runes, and Knacks are individual and very mundane skills (always getting sevens when rolling dice, growing very large fruits). Lastly, [[I Know Your True Name|Naming]] is barely explained, but it's rare, far more powerful than sympathy, and described as "fairy tale magic". There is also the even rarer Fae magic, grammarie and glamourie, the art of making things BE, versus making things SEEM.

* Superpowers in [[The Grimnoir Chronicles]] books fall on a grid that is one part [http://www.profantasy.com/rpgmaps/?p=62 The Quade Diagram] and one part ROYGBIV. All supers start out with a single power which either comes from one part of the grid or the overlapping of two or more parts. In turn, the [[Geometric Magic|kanji]] [[Power Tattoo|brands]] are two-dimensional [[Locard's Theory|sympathetic]] representations of whichever part(s) of the grid the user wishes to draw power from.

* Averted in the [[Shannara]] series, where it is made very clear over and over that magic is highly unstable and unpredictable, prone to shifting over time from one form to another. Even well known and fairly well understood magics can occasionally have unforseen effects.

** No paradox. Don't bother trying.

** If you exist twice in the same time, you'll die. It's called shadowing yourself. You can't cross your own shadow and live.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

 

== Tabletop Games ==

*** The entire arcane/divine split is just a convenient [[Hand Wave]] to keep wizards in particular from (a) wearing armor and (b) using healing magic (both of which Bards, also arcane casters, do just fine), both purely for purposes of game balance. It's probably [[Bellisario's Maxim|best not to try to read much more into it]] than that.

*** The fluff regarding the difference between Divine and Arcane magic varies by setting, but one ''very'' common tendency is that divine magic requires one to act as one's faith would have it (or at least to be able to convince oneself of that), whereas arcane magic have no such compunctions - that highly religious, saintly wizard can one day wake up and decide to become a [[Complete Monster]] for his own sake rather than for any god, and it would not impact his ability to cast magic in the slightest.

* There are three set rules for magic in ''[[Exalted]]'': "No time travel", "Once Exalted, you cannot Un-Exalt."<ref>Elaborating: Un-Exalting results in death, no exceptions.</ref> and "No resurrections." Of course, this being ''Exalted'', those rules exist mostly for Solar Circle Sorcerers to kick them in the nuts and steal their lunch money, but you will never see official Charms or Spells from White Wolf that allow you to break those rules. Bend, maybe. Break, no.

** It should be noted that the 'no unexalting' rule has found some limited exceptions. It assumes that on a mystical level, the Exalt remains fundamentally human. Green Sun Princes who 'ascend' to full Primordial status with Heresy charms find their Exaltation flitting off to find a new host (not that they need it at that point). Likewise, Exalts who chose to take up a job offer to divinity extended via Greater Sidereal Astrology find their Exaltation moving on once they become Gods. It should be noted that in both of these cases, the exception is allowed because the action of releasing the Exaltation is a choice, and cannot be driven by any supernatural or unnatural compulsion at all else the powers fail to work. The more precise law would have to be "Exaltation cannot be taken away from Exalts, ever".

** '''Adepts''' are limited to one type of magic; this can be casting spells (sorcerers), summoning spirits (conjurers), or enhancing the capabilities of their own bodies ("Phys-Ads").

** '''Magicians''' can both cast spells and summon spirits. The exact style and trappings of each magician's talents varies from one practitioner to the next, but the two most common catchall terms are [[Hermetic Magic|hermetic mages]] and [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|shamans]]. It should be noted that, despite the names, there's no arcane/divine magic split; anyone capable of sorcery can learn and use any spell.

* [[GURPS]] Thaumatology is a sourcebook dedicated entirely to making up bizarre, yet internally consistent, magic systems. GURPS ''also'' has a completely separate system for "psionics," which can be the same exact force as magic, but which are administered in the form of traits specific to a given character, rather than general rules that all magic users have to follow. That's where you go for [[Wrong-Context Magic]].

** ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' has a more detailed system that has most people drawing on a collective library of spells, though Lizardmen, Chaos, Undead, Orcs and Goblins, High Elves, and Dark Elves all have access to an extra group of spells.

* In ''[[Ars Magica]]'', wizards can do virtually anything, but every spell they case must be formed by combining, basically, constructing a Latin sentence consisting of one of five "techniques" (the verbs, all with the subject "I") and one of ten "forms" (the direct objects). For example, throwing bolts of flame would be "Creo Ignem" ("I create fire"), while making someone forget something would be a "Perdo Mentem" spell ("I destroy the mind"). Every wizard has varying levels of ability with each form and technique which determine how powerful of an effect they can generate (someone with a high score in Creo is good at making things in general; someone with a high score in Mentem is good at working with people's minds in general; someone with high scores in both Creo and Mentem would be extremely good at putting thoughts in other people's heads). Each edition of the game also has a few hard-and-fast rules beyond the verb/object format, such as it being impossible to raise the dead or travel back in time, although whether those things are literally impossible or simply unknown or forbidden to members of the Order of Hermes (the organization player character magi are assumed to belong to) is generally unclear (by design).

* ''[[World Tree RPG]]'' uses a noun/verb system (7 and 12 of each), but lets several of each be combined in one spell. Eg. a life-extension spell involves "Sustain/Body+Mind+Spirit". And that's the standard "pattern magic", one of several systems the main races know, each with known rules. The trope is played straight in that the rules exist, but subverted in that ultimately the gods control magic and don't do it predictably.

 

== Theatre ==

 

== Video Games ==

** Funny you should mention enchanting. While it's consistent within each game, the exact mechanics tends to vary wildly throughout the series as a whole.

** ''Oblivion'' showed us that, using Necromancy, it was possible to create a corrupted form of soul gems that are made for capturing Human, Bestial, or Elven souls. And they're more powerful than most animal souls, to boot. They're not available in ''Morrowind'', though, because necromancy is banned in the Morrowind province by the Dunmer Temple.

** It's hinted at with the [[Game Breaker|Sigil Stones]] in ''[[Oblivion]]'': at higher levels, they're more powerful than Soul Gems, but they can only bestow one spell effect on a weapon or piece of armor. In short, it's a quick-and-dirty way to get a super-enchantment on anything you want, that doesn't even require an Altar.

** Finally, it appears some, most, or maybe even all rules of magic can be stretched, if not necessarily broken; Ancotar states that permanent invisibilty would "violate the Conservation of Perception," but has created a spell that can keep a whole village invisible for at least a year.

* [[Kingdom Hearts]] plays with this, where certain things will be described and appear consistent... until something comes along that 'breaks the rules'. The authorities on that particular subject will subsequently be as confused as the player, demonstrating the Aesop of “Attempting to apply strict rules to natural phenomena is foolish, as the world is chaotic and wonderful”.

* ''[[Magicka]]'' revolves around this. Players have eight basic elements with which to cast spells. Each element has given properties and can be casted directly forward like a projectile, in an area around the caster, or on the caster. There are also opposing elements that will cancel each other out if used while conjuring a spell, [[Stuff Blowing Up|or worse.]] It is very possible to [[Press X to Die|kill yourself with ease]] or heal the enemy by accident.

* ''[[Dragon Age]]'' has, among other restrictions, "The Rules" which apply to magic: it's impossible to raise someone from the dead, it's impossible to use magic to travel any faster than "putting one foot in front of the other" (anyone who appears to be teleporting is actually just using an illusion to make them appear to be in one location while they hide and run somewhere else), and entering [[Spirit World|the Fade]] physically, while it's ''technically'' possible, requires an EXTREME amount of resources (lots of [[Green Rocks|lyrium]] and [[Human Sacrifice]]) and is a VERY bad idea likely to result in divine retribution. In addition, magic requires that mages expend mana (and/or lyrium) or [[Blood Magic|blood]]. Exactly how other things work (magical healing and the [[The Virus|darkspawn taint]] in particular) sometimes varies.

 

 

== Webcomics ==

* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' has "magic" that is, essentially, [[Sufficiently Advanced Technology|Sufficiently Advanced Science]]--- Magic is actually a natural ability to manipulate an exotic form of energy, can be used via technological means, and generally follows the known laws of physics (Conservation of mass and energy, for example, still apply).

* ''[[A Magical Roommate]]'' is fairly flexible, but has some strict rules with its magic system. When it appeared that one of these rules had been broken, Aylia imediatly rushed to figure out how... only to discover [[Loophole Abuse]] the cause.

* The [[Whateley Universe]] tries to be consistent about this. Given that the major characters now include a mage who is part Sidhe, a half-demon who has psychic abilities but deals with magic regularly, and an [[Action Girl]] with a magic sword, keeping the details consistent across authors must be fairly involved.

** One story has a character begin to talk about a phenomenon that underlies everything in the universe which is what gives her her powers, only to be told by the other characters that it doesn't exist, or at least, they've seen absolutely no evidence of it. It's a nice thought at how theories are subjective, so when a character explains their own or someone else's powers, they could just be completely wrong yet still come up with an explanation that covers the bases.

*** And, for another one of those 'secrets'...It's not been updated in about three years or so.

* [[The Slender Man Mythos]] is an interesting example; the character is shared between several projects by different groups, and one of the reasons he's so effectively frightful is that the most well-known Slenderblogs and vlogs keep things consistent. There's still wiggle-room for variation without angering the fandom, though: In [[Marble Hornets]], audio and video distortions show up when something bad is about to happen, whereas in [[Everyman HYBRID]], video usually doesn't distort unless Slender Man himself is both in the shot and very close to the camera. In [[Marble Hornets]] and [[Tribe Twelve]], being around Slender Man repeatedly tends to make people physically ill; [[Everyman HYBRID]] seems to be skipping that one.

** Actually, the main cast of [[Everyman HYBRID]] seem to be coughing up blood after each encounter with Slender Man.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Bending in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' mostly follows this. Certain characters can use various martial arts derived movements to telekinetically control one of the classical elements. It is possible to utilise this basic mechanic for more esoteric uses.

** E.g. "Bloodbending" is the act of controlling the water in someone's blood (only possible during a full moon when waterbending is at maximum power). "Metalbending" is the act of controlling the leftover impurities in metal to indirectly bend metal (but only Toph can do that, thanks to her [[Disability Superpower]]). Strong Firebenders can generate lightning.

**** So Azula achieved some kind of [[Ansem Retort|Reverse Nirvana]]?

** Fire produced by firebending doesn't seem to work in the way real-world fire does. I.e. it has concussive force, can burn in the air without fuel etc. This is mostly accepted because whilst not being portrayed ''realistically'' it is portrayed ''consistently''. Even Combustion Man's <s>exploding death-ray</s>sparky sparky boom ray is, [[All There in the Manual|according to the Nickelodeon Site]], something he was born with that allows him to focus his firebending to an extreme level. It also appears that it is that ''only'' form of firebending he is capable of. [[Crippling Overspecialization|With deadly results...]]

**** Of course, the [[Live Action Adaptation]] proved why violating this trope isn't necessarily a bad thing, as adhering to it utterly ruined the Fire Nation as a credible threat, and produced a massive [[Idiot Plot]] in that the other nations could have easily beaten them just by putting out the dinky little torches they relied on and driving them off when [[Brought Down to Normal|they have nothing left to bend.]]

**** Flame is plasma and hot gas, so what they are really bending is heat, not matter. Fire bending is explicitly powered by the sun, so it seems they are actually concentrating sunlight and using it to superheat air (or generate an electrical potential). Superheating air quickly would carry a concussive force with it, due to the pressure generated by suddenly increasing the temperature of the air without changing its volume.

** Even Ty Lee's chi blocking, which appears to come out of nowhere with no explanation, is actually based off of the idea that acupuncture can block chi, and that bending uses chi as well.

** One interesting aspect to note: According to the [[Grand Finale]], {{spoiler|it's implied that ALL bending arts are derived from Energybending, the most basal form of Bending. Before the arrival of the Avatar and the separation of the four elements, people bent the energy within themselves. At some point, they discovered the [[Elemental Powers|elemental bending arts,]] and, over time, the knowledge to perform energybending was almost completely lost, with the exception of the Lion Turtle who passed it down to Aang. While it's made clear that the various bending abilities came from external sources (dragons, badger-moles, flying bison, and the moon), it's also made clear that Energy-Bending was taught, not learned in complete solitude. Given all this information, it is very likely that while the bending arts are mostly separate, like the various types of martial arts they may in fact all be related in some degree, and it's possible that the current bending arts may have even evolved from Energybending, developing in various new ways but always using the same or similar principles as a basis.}}

* [[Fairly Oddparents]] has consistent rules for making wishes, except in [[The Movie]] there is a magic muffin that allows a certain amount of unrestricted wishing for those trusted with it. The only wish that can't be made is for the magic muffin to taste better (yeah, the muffin is all powerful, but it tastes horrible).

* ''[[Mighty Max]]'' established how the portal system works that Portal A leads to Portal B and vice-versa. In order to travel the world they need to move through a series of portals to arrive at their destination, almost like a subway train map. In multiple episodes they show that the portal underneath Max's house leads directly to [[Big Bad|Skullmaster's]] cavern, and a portal overhanging a lava waterfall some distance away leads them to Australia, with the nearest portal on foot is 50 miles away.

** Magic A is the obvious magic, unicorn magic. Every unicorn has some limited telekinesis for lifting small objects, plus a suite of spells related to their main talent; ergo, a unicorn whose cutie mark signified a particular skill for baking would have spells for getting dough to rise, batter to come together, what have you. Twilight Sparkle is unique in that her talent is the use and understanding of magic itself, so she can potentially learn any spell.

** Magic B is pegasus magic, mainly cloudwalking and weather control, plus some tactile telekinesis for towing things while in flight.

** And beyond these types is Magic P, wielded by [[Fun Personified|laughter-made-earth-pony-incarnate]] Pinkie Pie. She seems to have a completely different set of magical abilities that dabble in all of the above, including abilities that she should not be able to use due to her species type. Basically, the only hard and fast rule for Pinkie Pie is the [[Rule of Funny]], including [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]. Broadly, her ability is to behave like an archetypical classic cartoon character like [[Bugs Bunny]].

*** She also has "Pinkie Sense", an ability to foretell upcoming events by various twitches and feelings in her body. It is precise and consistent enough for the residents of Ponyville to record and use them. It also only works for things in the near future, and has no consistency with any known form of magic at all, much to Twilight's frustration.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]

[[Category:Consistency]]

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]

[[Category:Urban Fantasy Tropes]]